The “Karama – Beirut Human Rights Film Festival” kicks off its sixth edition on 2 October 2022, at 7 PM at Sunflower Theater, in Tayyouneh, Beirut, under the theme “The First Gate.” Organized by NGO “Art Factory 961,” the festival is held in partnership with the United Nations Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC Beirut), the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Lebanon and Umam Documentation and Research organization. This year, the festival is held in the run-up to the United Nations Day, which is the day the organization celebrates its establishment when the UN Charter entered into force on 24 October 1945.
The festival focuses on the importance of reconciliation in moving towards a more peaceful and just society for everyone by presenting films that shed light on individuals who experienced violence in the past or are experiencing it in the present. It also presents films that discuss the effects of war, such as displacement, and documents personal and collective attempts to put an end to injustice and violence.
The festival runs from 2 to 4 October and features six films, including five long documentaries and one short feature, some of them followed by an open Q and A session with the directors. On the last day, a panel discussion will be held under the title, “The Fourth Perspective: Narrating MENA Prisons from Beirut.” It sheds light on the importance of merging art, academia, and advocacy work while debating cultures and histories of incarceration in the MENA region. The panel includes Live interpretation in English and Arabic.
The films featured in the festival come from various countries, including: Jordan, Libya, Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and Peru.
Karama – Beirut Human Rights Film Festival (KBHRFF) is a film event that contributes, among other well-established and renowned human rights film festivals in the world, to spreading a cinema that denounces racism, hate discourse, discrimination and injustice. Last year, the fifth edition of the festival was held under the theme “Occupy the Void,” and it focused on the power and aspirations of young people for social and political change through public political participation. In 2019, the fourth edition of the festival was held under the theme “Talk to Her” promoted Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality, while the third edition, held in 2018 under the motto “Free the Word,” aimed to support the freedom of expression that is liberated from traditional official models. In 2017, the second edition addressed the theme “New Identities” and focused on identities conflict, whereas the first edition was held in 2016 under the theme “The Others,” and aimed to raise awareness on the rights of refugees and minorities in Lebanon and the Arab World.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon